Brough home an '89 Supra Priatta. Ugh what have I done.....
For many years I have wanted an Inboard ski boat. When I was 16 I bought a '67 correct craft with a I/O four cylinder. We had fun with it. But I then noticed that the inboards were a lot better. Now 30 years later I thought I would buy one I another boat. I found this piratta on Craigslist and went and looked at it. Totalled my car on the way up there last weekend to look at it. Went back up with my truck this weekend and brought it home on rotten tires and all. Took it straight to a restoration shop thinking I would have him check it out and see what he would charge. Well he was nice enough but a little crazy. He wanted 10 grand to do from the stringers up. I was think more like get it on the water this year and down the road put more money into it. I left it at his shop for him to evaluate. He said he would have to pull the carpet and some of the floor to give me a better idea of the stringers condition.
But after I got home, I decided he was a high pressure sales man. So I brought the boat back home to think on it a while. I have a guy that works for me that can do the wood working on the seat bases. I am going to fix the seats and take them some where to get covered. Fix some soft spots in the floor, put new carpet down and use it this summer.
When I was talking about not leaving it for the 10 grand repair he started talking about using git rot or doweling the holes for the engine mount bolts. If that can be done I can do that myself.
So does anyone have any input? Who else looked at this boat and walked away from it? Did you think that stringers were shot?
Just trying to figure out if I was taking all the way to the cleaners.
Took a little more time today.
I had a few minutes today to look a little closer at the Piratta. I started taking the seats out so I can eventually pull the carpet. Pretty much all the the plywood on the seats is rotted at least, around the edges. They all need recovered. I am going to build new seat frames and take them somewhere to be covered.
I took out one of the motor mount lag bolts and reinstalled it. It caught but wouldn't torque down. I am going to try a long bolt and see if it will catch. The other side is fine. Just the left side seems to have the problem.
48
I think the guy got me pretty good. I paid 48 hundred. It is a cool boat. The hull is great. Just the interior sucks.
I really like the boat. It has a really cool look to it. At this point I am not sure how to proceed. I don't really have 10 grand to have someone else do it. And I don't think I can do it myself. I can do and get the interior done, but if I have to replace the stringers right now, I don't think that will happen.